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VERIFIED CONTENTAuthor: lek. Tomasz NęckiMemory disorders can be associated not only with stress and fatigue, but also with serious diseases. This can result in irreversible changes in memory. Which types of memory disorders should arouse anxiety and make you see a doctor?
In the general divisionmemory disordersthere are two categories: quantitative (dysmnesias) and qualitative memory disorders (paramnesia).
Quantitative memory disorders include:
- hypermnesia(ability to remember and recall information to a greater extent than the average person of a given age),
- hypomnesia(slight difficulty in memorizing processes),
- amnesia (loss of memories related to a certain period).
Qualitative memory impairment is divided into:
- memory illusions(distorted memories),
- kryptomnezje(memory without identifying memories, e.g. unconsciously assigning yourself words once spoken by someone else),
- confabulations(filling memory gaps with events that did not take place).
Symptoms of memory disorders
Considering the very extensive classification of memory disorders, it should not come as a surprise that problems with remembering can be of various nature. The primary distinction may be one based on the type of memory affected.
In the case ofshort-term memory disorderspatients have difficulty recalling events that happened in the last few minutes or hours. The problems related tolong-term memoryare different - when they occur, patients have difficulty recalling events that took place in the more distant past (e.g. several years ago).
In the case ofamnesiathere are two main types of problem. The first is retrograde amnesia, in which the patient loses memories of the period before the factor responsible for this state was triggered. The second problem, i.e. anterograde amnesia,is associated with the loss of the ability to remember events that occur after the occurrence of the causative factor. Amnesia is also divided into total and partial, and temporary and permanent.
Memory delusionsrelate to events that actually happened in the past, but the memories are distorted. To illustrate, an example of a family trip to the seaside can be cited here - a patient with memory illusions may have the impression that one of the family members was not on such a trip, while in fact the person accompanied the patient at that time.
Cryptomnesiais defined as the so-called unconscious memories. When they occur, the patient may treat the information he has already encountered as completely new - an example may be the so-called unconscious plagiarism (the patient plagiarizes without being aware that he is not actually creating himself, but only remembers something with which he has already had contact).
The nameconfabulationis the occurrence of false memories in the patient. They result from the existence of a memory gap and are intended to fill it. Typically, the content of the confabulation is logically aligned with the circumstances of the memory gap. The confabulating person is unaware that their memories are in fact untrue.
Describing memory problems, it is impossible not to mention memory disorders in the elderly. Minor problems, such as trying to find glasses that you have just put away, do not have to be alarming - they may result from the reduced ability to concentrate on several activities at the same time related to the natural aging process (they are sometimes even considered not as memory disorders, but as attention and attention disorders). concentration). A much greater problem in older patients may be quite spectacular memory disorders, such as forgetting your own address or difficulties in recognizing your own family members. The occurrence of such difficulties should be worrying - and patients may even require constant care, therefore the occurrence of such significant memory disorders should always prompt a doctor.
Causes of memory impairment
Dementia is considered to be the most common diseases associated with impaired memory processes. Perhaps the best known of this group is Alzheimer's disease, which is dementia that occurs in up to one in five people aged 80 or over. Typically the disease is associated with the elderly, however, it occurs not only among representatives of this group of patients -in the case of genetic predisposition, Alzheimer's disease can occur even in a 30-year-old, therefore significant memory impairment at an early age should be particularly worrying.
Other examples of dementia disorders are Parkinson's disease and frontotemporal dementia, symptoms similar to those mentioned above are also found in normotensive hydrocephalus.
Other causes of memory disorders include:
- endocrine diseases (e.g. hypothyroidism, Addison's disease, Cushing's disease, hypopituitarism),
- heavy metal poisoning,
- depression,
- vitamin deficiencies (B1, B12, folic acid)
- chronic alcohol abuse,
- infections of brain structures (related to syphilis or HIV),
- multiple sclerosis,
- tumors of the central nervous system,
- Wilson's disease,
- cerebral ischemia and post-stroke conditions.
Memory impairment can also be caused by previous injuries. Problems with remembering can occur as a result of various types of accidents (e.g. car crash or falls), especially if during such events the head is injured. However, memory disorders result not only from bodily injuries - also a strong psychological shock related to some trauma (e.g. rape) may be the cause of them, especially in the case of amnesia.
Memory disorder treatment
Treatment of memory disorders depends on the type of factor causing the problem - that is why properly conducted diagnostics is so important in case of problems with remembering. In the case of dementia (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or frontotemporal dementia), pharmacotherapy does not allow for the reversal of already existing disorders, but its use allows to slow down the pace of the development of these diseases, and thus - to delay the progression of memory disorders.
In the case of endocrine diseases related to memory disorders, medications adapted to the problem are used (e.g. thyroid hormones in its hypothyroidism or glucocorticosteroids in Addison's disease).
If excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for memory disorders, clinical improvement can be achieved by treating addiction. Alcohol can cause irreversible damage to the nervous system, but patients do not have any chances - it is estimated that, thanks to abstinence, the restoration of proper memory functioning occurs in up to 1/4 of patients. Helpful in the case of memory disorders associated withaddiction to alcohol may be vitamin B1 supplementation.
Supportively in various memory disorders, the so-called procognitive (nootropic) drugs, which are designed to stimulate the course of metabolic processes in the brain and thus improve, among others memorization processes.